Christopher Sargeant charged with attempted murder in cop stabbing

Christopher Sargeant, accused of stabbing a Nassau County police emergency service officer in his stomach and arm at a Hempstead home during a confrontation Sunday, is taken from police headquarters in Mineola to be arraigned. (March 26, 2012) Photo Credit: Howard Schnapp

A former New York City correction officer described by police as "emotionally disturbed" faces attempted murder charges after authorities said he stabbed a Nassau emergency services officer and injured three others during a violent struggle inside his Hempstead home.

Christopher Sargeant, 32, of 122 Emery St., was ordered held without bail Monday during an arraignment in First District Court. He faces charges of attempted murder of a police officer; criminal mischief, assault on a police officer; possession of a weapon, obstruction of governmental administration and resisting arrest.

Sargeant was taken for a psychiatric evaluation at Nassau University Medical Center Sunday after the altercation. He arrived at police headquarters Monday shortly before 11 a.m. still wearing hospital clothing, and told reporters, "I had nothing to do with that" when asked about the stabbing.

Sargeant was on sick leave for a year before being dismissed from his job at the Rikers Island jail, where he had worked since 2006, a correction department spokeswoman said Sunday.

Monday, a military spokeswoman confirmed that he is a former Marine.

Maj. Shawn Haney said Sargeant was on active duty from 1999 to 2003 as a food service specialist and had served at Camp Pendleton in California and in Okinawa, Japan. He was trained as a close combat instructor, but was not deployed into combat, Haney said.

According to court documents, the Sunday incident began when police responded to a call about a man throwing rocks and a brick at a business and a car at about 3 p.m. Sargeant drove by and officers followed him to a residence. There, he got out of his car and refused to comply with police commands to drop a red-handled folding knife, the documents said.

Emergency Service Unit officers followed Sargeant into the home. He began "fighting with the arresting officers, refusing all commands, pushing the officers and forcing all officers at the scene to be knocked to the ground," the documents said.

He stabbed the ESU officer in the stomach as the officer was trying to arrest him. The stabbed officer is identified by police only as 54 years old, a 13-year police veteran and an ESU officer for five years.

Court documents said the officer had a stab wound to his left arm and 4-inch cut on his stomach and had to undergo surgery. He was in satisfactory, stable condition at NUMC and was likely to be released in the next day or two, a hospital spokeswoman said Monday.

The other officers were treated for minor injuries.

According to the Nassau district attorney's office, Sargeant has two cases pending. One stems from a March 1 arrest for first degree felony criminal contempt; he is accused of violating an order of protection for his estranged wife, officials said.